The Fabric Behind Samsung

In addition to our recent flagship smartphone model – Galaxy S II (lower left) – you can see one of Samsung’s first black-and-white TVs in the lower right newspaper ad and the Hauzen air conditioner in the upper right picture.

Then what about the first ad? Does Samsung have anything to do with women’s clothes? The answer is yes! Today, let us introduce to you Cheil Industries – one of the keystone Samsung companies – and some memorable moments in the company’s 57-year history.

In 1954, Cheil Industries, originally named Cheil Woolen Fabrics Industries, was founded in Korea’s fourth largest city Daegu. As Korea recovered from the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War and devoted its postwar efforts to rebuilding the basic industrial infrastructure, Cheil built the nation’s first carded wool factory in 1955. The company exported its first batch of carded wool of 8,000 pounds to Hong Kong in 1961, making a debut in the global woolen fabrics industry.

Employees at Cheil’s Daegu plant – making Korea’s 1st worsted yarn

When the industry’s growth slowed during late 1960s and 1970s, Cheil decided to broaden its business portfolio into manufacturing of assorted fibers. Renaming itself to Cheil Industries, it launched its first women’s fashion brand – La Beauté – in 1977. The brand is featured in the ad we showed you earlier.

La Beauté, targeting female customers in their early 20s, led a paradigm shift in women’s clothes in Korea then, from the once dominant tailor-made clothing to the new fad of ready-made fashion. Later in 1983, Cheil also introduced men’s wear brand – Galaxy – which has since become one of Korea’s most popular traditional suit brands – even today.

Cheil underwent another transformation after the 1980s, expanding into production of chemicals and electronic materials while further developing its fashion business. It started making plastics for electronic goods and functional polymers.

In 2002, Cheil built an IT production complex in Korea, mass producing electrolytic solutions for rechargeable batteries, color filters for LCDs and CMP Slurry for semiconductors. Below you can see the list of key materials produced by Cheil and related milestones:

Cheil’s Moments of First and Best

Influential management consultant and writer Peter F. Drucker once said: “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”

Cheil Industries probably fits well with the “entrepreneur” described by Drucker as it has successfully responded to numerous challenges, from the war-hit economy to the fast-changing business environment, and capitalized on new opportunities. Its evolution symbolizes Samsung’s commitment to become a truly global, multifaceted company!

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As a way of giving back to society, Samsung Electronics has long supported education programs that prevent disadvantaged students from being left behind without digital skills. This was evident by the...

Last month, as part of Samsung’s annual Global Volunteer Month, over 160,000 Samsung employees around the world joined in to support education, social welfare, and environment efforts in 26 countrie...

Samsung Electronics was named Community Care Company of the Year at the 2016 Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability (ACES) Awards, held on Nov. 17 in Singapore. The award is the highest accolad...

As a way of giving back to society, Samsung Electronics has long supported education programs that prevent disadvantaged students from being left behind without digital skills. This was evident by the...

Last month, as part of Samsung’s annual Global Volunteer Month, over 160,000 Samsung employees around the world joined in to support education, social welfare, and environment efforts in 26 countrie...

Samsung Electronics was named Community Care Company of the Year at the 2016 Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability (ACES) Awards, held on Nov. 17 in Singapore. The award is the highest accolad...

About Samsung

Samsung is a global corporate encompassing diverse businesses ranging from electronics, construction, finance and more. Founded in 1938, Samsung has worked to make a better world through our products and services. With 2014 net sales of 303 trillion Korean won, Samsung is also spearheading efforts to bring innovations in clean energy, healthcare and biotechnology. Please visit www.samsung.com for more.